NYT cuts sections

The biggest cutbacks involve parts of the paper we never see in the national edition. As expected, the Times will eliminate weekly sections for New Jersey, Long Island, Westchester and Connecticut (bad news for freelancers). Instead, a single section will combine news from all those areas. Also, Friday editions will no longer contain an Escapes section, the magazine will drop the fashion layout, and the guide to the paper will be reduced from three pages to one. Compared with the bludgeoning that the LAT has taken, these trims seem pretty minimal. Still, they point up the industry's woes. From the NYT:

In a memo to the staff on Thursday, [Executive Editor Bill] Keller wrote, "The hope and expectation remain that the pay cuts and the spending cuts outlined above will get us through the year without the need for other significant reductions." He has said that the paper was cutting its spending on free-lance work by 10 to 15 percent, and the sections being combined or trimmed depend heavily on freelancers. The consolidation will not eliminate any editorial staff jobs, Mr. Keller said, though some employees will be reassigned to other parts of the paper.